Chamas For Change: A Gender-Responsive And Microfinance-Based Approach To Empowering Women And Building Resilience To Health Emergencies in Kenya

The study objectives are:

To evaluate the effect of Chama participation on mitigating the effects of the pandemic on social and gender equity.

• Impact on economic status (assessed using the changes in the Poverty Probability index scores)
• Impact on health service utilization and behaviours (assessed using enrollment in the national health insurance scheme, number of ANC visits attended, facility delivery, maternal death, newborn death, infant death, exclusive breastfeeding, number of children fully immunized at age 1)
• Social attitudes and well-being (assessed using, attitude towards harsh punishment of children, level of parental stress)
• COVID-19 related information (assessed using COVID-19 infection, COVID-19 vaccination, and effects of COVID restrictions)

To use an equity-centered design process and narrative approach to share research findings.

The research team intends to evaluate women's experiences during the pandemic using a mixed method approach and a participatory action design method. The focus will be on 3 study cohorts: (1) women who participated in Chamas throughout the pandemic, (2) women who left Chamas during the pandemic, (3) women whose communities were randomized to not receive the Chamas intervention. To better understand the effects of Chama participation on study outcomes, we will conduct an interviewer-administered survey among the described cohorts of women. This will be followed by qualitative studies to contextualize the study findings and investigate gender dynamics as social processes. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) will be conducted to further investigate our study cohort's experiences during the pandemic and identify strategies used by participants to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic and its associated restrictions.